PTR Patch 4.1 Blizzard Post + Official PTR Patch Notes!

Blizzard has just made a detailed post about the changes we can expect in patch 4.1! If you've already checked out our awesome Patch 4.1 Mini-Guide, much of this will come to no surprise, but Blizzard has made an extremely welcome addition - official PTR patch notes!

Be sure to read Zarhym's detailed post announcing the return of Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman as 5-player Cataclysm Heroics, as well as some interesting information about upcoming class changes below. Also, you can check out the patch notes (fully Wowhead linkified, of course) after the break! Or, you can check 'em out right here!

That's right, folks. Development on the first major content patch for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is well underway! We're currently making preparations to bring some of the initial content and updates we've been working on for this patch to the Public Test Realms. So you ask, "what will we find in the first 4.1 test client?" (You did ask that, right?) Well, let me tell you!

The Gurubashi Tribe Persists

Originally a 20-player dungeon released in patch 1.7, Zul'Gurub will once again open its gates, featuring updated lore, all-new encounters, achievements, and improved loot! Zul'Gurub is now a level-85 five-player Heroic difficulty dungeon. To provide a new tier above the current Cataclysm dungeons, players can expect to find epic-quality item level 353 loot. The minimum average item level to enter this Heroic dungeon is 346.

The Return of Zul'Aman

Ever a player favorite, the level-70 ten-player dungeon of Zul'Aman is being reintroduced as a level-85 Heroic five-player dungeon. Zul'Aman will join Zul'Gurub in a new Dungeon Finder tier of Heroic dungeons, providing epic-quality item level 353 loot. The minimum average item level to enter this Heroic dungeon is also 346. While Zul'Aman will be more of a throwback to the original dungeon featuring many of the same encounters, players can expect to find some updated gameplay mechanics, as well as new environment textures and lighting.

With the Zuls returning, you may be wondering about the unique mounts that were once contained therein. We're pleased to announce that new versions of the rare raptor, tiger, and bear mounts will be available, while the old versions of these mounts will remain unique to those who already have them. We'll reveal more about how these updated mounts can be obtained in the future.

Class Design

While we do intend to make fewer balance changes in patch 4.1, you can still expect to find a fair number of updates. Below are just a few we'd like to share with you right now. Keep in mind these changes don't encompass the entirety of the 4.1 changes, nor do the initial Public Test Realm patch notes.

To start, we want to do a better job of balancing the AoE power of the different damage-dealing specs. You can expect to see some changes to this end made throughout the testing process.

is now available at level 56. It was intended to solve an excess rage problem that largely isn’t affecting warriors anymore. We’ve added a replacement ability for warriors at level 83: Rallying Cry.

now ignores 70% of an opponent's armor, down from 100%. We are compensating Fury and Arms warriors by increasing the damage of other attacks.

: We want Retribution and Protection paladins to have reasonable healing on themselves or others, but we know paladins sometimes feel like they can’t use their Holy Power on anything but their heals in some situations. We’d rather these two specs spend most of their Holy Power on damage-dealing abilities, with occasional healing.

More To Come

We're still hard at work on additional features, balance updates, and bug fixes for patch 4.1. We look forward to sharing more information with you in the days and weeks ahead as we release new content on the Public Test Realms. Until then, have a look at the patch notes we've prepared thus far. As always, these notes are not final and will continue to change as we go through the iterative development and testing processes.

Don't forget the check out the Official 4.1 PTR Patch Notes after the break!

Official 4.1 PTR Patch Notes

Important: These patch notes are not final. Additional updates will be made, and all existing changes are subject to revision during the course of the testing process. More information regarding patch 4.1 can be found here. Visit our Public Test Realm forum for more information about the testing process.

has been redesigned and decoupled from shaman Fire totems. Instead, it now pulses that same area-of-effect from each target that is afflicted by the shaman's own debuff. It now damages all enemies except the target hit by Flame Shock. The ability's cooldown has been reduced from 4 seconds, down from 10.

now lasts for 60 seconds, up from 21.

's area-of-effect threat pulse no longer affects critters.

Talent Specializations

Elemental Combat

is no longer a channeled spell. It now has a 2-second cast time, lasts for 10 seconds, and has a 10-second cooldown. Its damage has been reduced by 40% from its channeled version.

Enhancement

Improved Fire Nova has been redesigned and replaced by a talent called . When an enemy spell cast is successfully prevented with Wind Shear or Grounding Totem, the shaman gains magical resistance (in an amount equal to what a protection totem/aura would grant, stacking with such buffs) to the spell school(s) of the interrupted spell (except for Holy spells), lasting 10 seconds.

(new ability) is available from trainers at level 83. It temporarily grants the warrior and all party or raid members within 30 yards 20% of maximum health for 10 seconds. After the effect expires, the health is lost. It has no cost, no stance requirements, and is not on the global cooldown. It has a 3-minute cooldown, but also shares a cooldown with .

now has its cooldown reduced by 6 seconds when it deals damage to 4 or more targets. The Whirlwind effect caused by remains unchanged.

Talent Specializations

Arms

now reduces the global cooldown on by 0.5/1 seconds in addition to its current effects.

increases damage by 20/40%, up from 10/20%.

no longer adds 2 seconds to the stun, but instead lowers the cooldown of by 3 seconds (to 12 seconds total).

damage has been increased to 175% weapon damage, up from 150%.

Fury

damage has been increased back up to 120% weapon damage (up from 100%).

Dungeons & Raids

New dungeons available for partial testing.

Zul'Aman has returned as a level-85 5-player Heroic dungeon featuring a revamp of the original dungeon and improved loot!

Zul'Gurub has returned as a level-85 5-player Heroic dungeon featuring all-new encounters, achievements, and improved loot!

Both dungeons will be in a new Dungeon Finder difficulty tier above the current level-85 Heroic dungeons and offer epic-quality item level 353 loot.

These dungeons may only partially be available for testing at this time. Stay tuned for additional updates.

Further improvements have been made in the Малориак encounter to avoid Flash Freeze targeting the tanks.

Guilds

The Guild Perk, , no longer prints out text to the Chat Log. Instead, the daily amount deposited is shown in the Guild Vault Money Log. In addition, players can view the weekly contribution in a new window at the bottom of the Money Log.

We have added two new custom guild tabards as Guild Rewards. The tabards are account bound and offer a bonus to gaining guild reputation.

Items

The PvP Horde and Alliance trinkets have a new spell effect.

Professions

All major cities will now have every type of profession trainer and their associated trade supply vendors.

PvP

Players will now only spawn at their base graveyard when they die in the enemy base.

Defending players will respawn at the middle graveyard.

Midfield players will respawn at the middle graveyard.

Attacking players will respawn at their base graveyard.

Races

The gnomish racial ability, , is no longer affected by the global cooldowns triggered by other abilities.

The human racial ability, , has a new spell effect.

User Interface

Work has begun on a new Looking for Guild system. Further details will be provided when we are ready for feedback.Spells bound to a key now start to be cast when the button is pressed down by default, instead of waiting for the key to go up. This is an option that can be turned off in the Interface menu under Combat. Mouse clicking has not changed and operates on mouse click up.

Комментарий от Shenk

Комментарий от Hyperlynx

Комментарий от Rainemard

on 2011-02-24T15:02:48-06:00

You forgot to label when the Priest changes start. =)

I was thinking "Holy crap! When did Paladins get PW:S?"

Also, i'm not sure if I should be happy or wary that there are no Warlock changes yet in the PTR... And lastly, am I the only one wondering about the state of our current ZA once 4.1 goes live? Not to mention the lack of normal modes for ZG and ZA.

Комментарий от Pellinor

on 2011-02-24T15:03:09-06:00

The PvP Horde and Alliance trinkets have a new spell effect.

Interesting..

Комментарий от Interest

on 2011-02-24T15:03:17-06:00

is now available at level 56. It was intended to solve an excess rage problem that largely isn’t affecting warriors anymore. We’ve added a replacement ability for warriors at level 83: Rallying Cry.

now ignores 70% of an opponent's armor, down from 100%. We are compensating Fury and Arms warriors by increasing the damage of other attacks.

: We want Retribution and Protection paladins to have reasonable healing on themselves or others, but we know paladins sometimes feel like they can’t use their Holy Power on anything but their heals in some situations. We’d rather these two specs spend most of their Holy Power on damage-dealing abilities, with occasional healing.

Not surprised by any of these changes at all. Warriors being balanced around Colossus Smash is a bit dumb (and their burst is pretty stupid high when it's up, so this should even out their damage a bit more). I am wondering with the new Rallying Cry what Blizzard will do about the Last Stand ability.

Dark Simulacrum now works on numerous additional spells in dungeon encounters.

As long as it's not Wrack.

Blood of the North (passive) now permanently converts both Blood Runes into Death Runes. There is no longer any proc interaction with Blood Strike required to activate Death Runes.

Sweet.

Solar Beam is now more responsive when enemies move into or out of it.

Good.

Tame Beast now tames pets to match the hunter's level, rather than 5 levels below.

YES! YES! OMG!

* Ignite is no longer triggered from periodic critical effects.

I know they're trying to fix Ignite munching but this will not completely negate the issue. Blizzard needs to go one step further by:

-Excluding Flame Orb from Ignite (it's actually considered a dps LOSS to Flame Orb, apparently).-Changing the travel time of direct damage spells (so they do not simultaneously hit the target. For instance, Fireball should travel faster so Pyroblasts through Hot Streak don't hit the target at the same time.)

Word of Glory now has a 20-second cooldown.

Actually, this is a good change. Protection Paladins are especially too strong with a no cooldown heal like that.

* Holy

-Walk in the Light (passive) removes the cooldown of Word of Glory.

Protection

-Divine Guardian cooldown is now 3 minutes, up from 2.

Retribution

- Divine Storm now generates 1 point of Holy Power if it hits (i.e. successfully lands on) 4 or more targets.-Sacred Shield's internal cooldown has been increased to 60 seconds, up from 30.

Interesting changes...

Recuperate base effect now heals 3% per tick, up from 2%.Stealth base cooldown has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 10, and the movement penalty from being in Stealth has been removed.Tricks of the Trade now has a 100-yard range, up from 20.

Oh thank god for all these changes, especially the one involving Tricks of the Trade.

Combat

- Improved Recuperate now adds 0.5%/1% to the health restoration effect of Recuperate, down from 1%/2%.

Subtlety

- Nightstalker now reduces the cooldown of Stealth by 2/4 seconds, and instead of negating the movement penalty from Stealth, it adds a 5/10% movement speed bonus (stacking with other effects) while Stealthed.

No too surprised by the change to Improved Recuperate. Guess what I'm taking in my Pickpocketing spec...

-Fire Nova has been redesigned and decoupled from shaman Fire totems. Instead, it now pulses that same area-of-effect from each target that is afflicted by the shaman's own Flame Shock debuff. It now damages all enemies except the target hit by Flame Shock. The ability's cooldown has been reduced from 4 seconds, down from 10.-Magma Totem now lasts for 60 seconds, up from 21.-Stoneclaw Totem's area-of-effect threat pulse no longer affects critters.

Wow. Shamans getting a ton of love for their AOE (Magma Totem buff). Not too sure about the Fire Nova change but it looks good.

Elemental Combat

-Earthquake is no longer a channeled spell. It now has a 2-second cast time, lasts for 10 seconds, and has a 10-second cooldown. Its damage has been reduced by 40% from its channeled version.

Maybe this change is good?

Improved Fire Nova has been redesigned and replaced by a talent called Improved Fire Nova. When an enemy spell cast is successfully prevented with Wind Shear or Grounding Totem, the shaman gains magical resistance (in an amount equal to what a protection totem/aura would grant, stacking with such buffs) to the spell school(s) of the interrupted spell (except for Holy spells), lasting 10 seconds.

Interesting...

Charge and Intercept no longer have diminishing returns on their stun effects.

Thank god.

-Intercept now has a 1.5-second stun, down from 3 seconds.-Overpower damage has been increased to 140% weapon damage, up from 125%.-Rallying Cry (new ability) is available from trainers at level 83. It temporarily grants the warrior and all party or raid members within 30 yards 20% of maximum health for 10 seconds. After the effect expires, the health is lost. It has no cost, no stance requirements, and is not on the global cooldown. It has a 3-minute cooldown, but also shares a cooldown with Last Stand.-Whirlwind now has its cooldown reduced by 6 seconds when it deals damage to 4 or more targets. The Whirlwind effect caused by Bladestorm remains unchanged.

Will they change Juggernaut back then?

- Improved Hamstring now reduces the global cooldown on Hamstring by 0.5/1 seconds in addition to its current effects.- Improved Slam increases Slam damage by 20/40%, up from 10/20%.-Juggernaut no longer adds 2 seconds to the Charge stun, but instead lowers the cooldown of Charge by 3 seconds (to 12 seconds total).-Mortal Strike damage has been increased to 175% weapon damage, up from 150%.

Uh....okay..

Raging Blow damage has been increased back up to 120% weapon damage (up from 100%).

I see.

-The Guild Perk, Cash Flow, no longer prints out text to the Chat Log. Instead, the daily amount deposited is shown in the Guild Vault Money Log. In addition, players can view the weekly contribution in a new window at the bottom of the Money Log.

- We have added two new custom guild tabards as Guild Rewards. The tabards are account bound and offer a bonus to gaining guild reputation.

Yayyyy.

Комментарий от Sententia

on 2011-02-24T15:03:19-06:00

I was hoping blizzard would address feral PvP in 4.1, but hey at least there are some arms buffs.

Комментарий от Haxzor

on 2011-02-24T15:06:59-06:00

hahahahahah, instead of creating new content. We're just going to re-release old content slightly tuned.

Classic Blizzard

Комментарий от NerdEsq

on 2011-02-24T15:07:46-06:00

Yay for the Fire Nova change!

Комментарий от Ovaldo

on 2011-02-24T15:11:59-06:00

Im pretty stoked for all these changes, MMO-Champion said that DK's Crimson Scourge was being nerfed to 5% but I don't see that here, so Im happy none-the-less! I trust Wowhead more then MMO-Champion.

Комментарий от Hoofpali

on 2011-02-24T15:12:02-06:00

Those are just the beginnings of what'll be pumped out, I'm sure.

Комментарий от Shad0wembrace

on 2011-02-24T15:12:05-06:00

Ridiculous. First you put Word of Glory on a CD for 20 secs (due to ret + Prot healing), then you say, oh, well we don't want this to effect healadins, so we'll remove a 10% effectiveness of our heals talent, and make it a WoG no CD Talent instead. Does that make any sense to you at all?

It doesn't to me, hope this gets fixed before the patch goes live.

Комментарий от Sarix

on 2011-02-24T15:14:29-06:00

Gotta love more rehashes of old content. Wouldn't want blizz to be troubled with thinking of entirely new dungeons while they have 30 hotfixes to shell out everyday.

Комментарий от allcoast

on 2011-02-24T15:16:19-06:00

Time to screw over the classes again, just in time for the release of RIFT, lol

Комментарий от Nobodyiixgr

on 2011-02-24T15:17:03-06:00

rogue=op with the talent from sub.....

Комментарий от Kappajoe

on 2011-02-24T15:17:43-06:00

The Warlock class is perfect!

Комментарий от Interest

on 2011-02-24T15:17:58-06:00

Ridiculous. First you put Word of Glory on a CD for 20 secs (due to ret + Prot healing), then you say, oh, well we don't want this to effect healadins, so we'll remove a 10% effectiveness of our heals talent, and make it a WoG no CD Talent instead. Does that make any sense to you at all?

It doesn't to me, hope this gets fixed before the patch goes live.

Did you ever perhaps think it might be an ADDITIONAL effect? Stop jumping to conclusions.

hahahahahah, instead of creating new content. We're just going to re-release old content slightly tuned.

Classic Blizzard

Gotta love more rehashes of old content. Wouldn't want blizz to be troubled with thinking of entirely new dungeons while they have 30 hotfixes to shell out everyday.

They're making new raids. Get the %^&* over it. I actually like that they brought back some old instances as Heroics. I'm pretty sure this was their plan all along (Heroic SFK/Deadmines). It's nice to see stuff brought up to date, you think? (Except the Naxxramas thing...grrrr)

Комментарий от TheProMo

on 2011-02-24T15:26:02-06:00

Bout time rogues got something interesting/helpful xD!

Комментарий от dalisair

on 2011-02-24T15:33:30-06:00

Translation "Ok, we know we messed warriors up..."

Комментарий от Jathro

on 2011-02-24T15:35:11-06:00

We have added two new custom guild tabards as Guild Rewards. The tabards are account bound and offer a bonus to gaining guild reputation.

Best thing I read.

Комментарий от Sigmafel

on 2011-02-24T15:37:18-06:00

"Work has begun on a new Looking for Guild system. Further details will be provided when we are ready for feedback."

ABOUT DAMN TIME. I've been requesting this feature since they announced the Guild Perks system, and it is sorely needed.